Up until now, self-driving cars have been more “autonomous” than truly “driverless.” But now Waymo has driverless cars with no one even in the front seat picking up and dropping off passengers in Arizona. And they’re ready to expand.
On a conference call with reporters last week, Waymo CEO John Krafcik announced that Waymo has begun allowing people to book rides in a 50-square-mile area in the Phoenix suburbs of Chandler, Tempe, and Mesa.
Like Google, Waymo is a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc.
At first, only those who were riders in their early Waymo One service will be allowed to ride. Once the early adopters have had a chance though, anyone will be able to download an app and hail a riderless car with their smartphone.
This is the culmination of years of testing in the Phoenix area.
“It took us two years to get three cars up and running at the same time in fully driverless mode on the streets of Phoenix,” Krafcik said. “It took another year to get a hundred cars.”
Now Waymo has somewhere between 300 and 400 cars in Arizona. They’re hoping that of the rides offered in the area, 100% of them will be completely driverless.
I notice, these autonomous vehicles are always being tested in Az, where the weather is generally sunny, warm, and dry.
Why aren’t they being tested in Minnesota in Dec, Jan, and Feb? They seem to be afraid of cold, snowy, or rainy weather.
it’s not the cold or rain. it’s the fact that these cars/trucks will have no lines to follow when the snow covers them AND, midwest states refuse to spend money on fixing the roads let alone painting new lines for vehicles that will not contribute to fuel taxes.
They don’t navigate off of the lines on the road. They navigate via a combo of radar, lidar and live cameras along with software.
I’m from Minnesota. The technology doesn’t work on snow covered roads as of yet. The southern states will have the technology first. The automous trucks can work in night & rain & nightime in rain, but not snow.
When these vehicles trace drivers, putting them out of work, where will people get the money to use these ” services”?
from more government ‘helicopter’ money. (stimulus checks)
From out of work Walmart clerks replaced by self-checkout, who were promised work when Walmart moved in their town
That’s supposed to read replace drivers.
I still don’t see how these cars can anticipate stopping, like when you see some kid chasing a ball into the street or pedestrians. I went to Chandler AZ and saw two of these minivans like this. I don’t like it. But maybe they match the skills of many people You see driving everyday.
They operate off radar, lidar and live cameras along with the software that interprets what those pick up. They can actually “see” and plan for pedestrians that a human would not be able to see (between cars, behind bushes, running toward the road, etc). This is what I do for a living.
Tje idea of autonomous vehicles is dangerous. They opperate in perfect weather conditions.
They are useless on imperfect roads, and wgen the signal gets interference.
Their guidence systems are easily hacked.
Driverless trucks are a danger to the job market. Cars are worse than drunk drivers.
The technology is in it’s infancy. It requires a great deal more development.
I despise the idea of their doing R&D on the same roads as my family. I despise the idea of the consumer financing their developement, mistakes, and total disregard for the public safety.
“JAVA take the wheel.”
People need 2 stay away from these driverless taxis as in don’t ever use them PERIOD. Once people start using them, it starts the unemployed train rolling. 1st they’ll put taxi, uber & other drivers out of work, then it’ll be the amazon & fedex drivers followed by grocery store & 711 drivers. Then they’ll try to replace fast food workers with robots etc.. The domino effect.
Can’t argue with that
you get in a driverless taxi, the person before just barfed or there are a ton if needles or you name it. point is – you don’t know what you are getting in to and will you be charged for the ride if the car is trashed? Try getting a refund on redbox when they don’t work. I couldn’t
First class seating. Nothing but rain wind and flash floods. Why not Nevada instead of Arizona
Someone controls the operation on computers. There are people who are being trained to control these vehicles and trucks.
Right never know who did what in that driverless vehicle before you enter it.
Getting in these cars you are nothing but a lab rat you get kill go get another one 🏃🐀🐀🐀🐁🐁🐁
Cover your license plate and run these off the road.
Frankly I’d rather drive my vehicle. What I am waiting for is the autonomous snow blower. Just press an app on the phone, it opens the garage door, goes out and clears off the driveway, then parks itself back in the garage. Yea, I like that. Ha.